Channel Swimmer

A Novel

Charles, an Oxford scientist on the eve of retirement, decides to counter his wife’s mid-life dream of an expanded marriage with his own: swimming the English Channel – at least once in his life. His Channel crossing turns into an ordeal, a rite of passage, and, ultimately, a tribute to the vagaries of love. At the end of his quest, Charles realizes that he cannot jump over his own shadow. He can only swim across and through it.